Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Author

lightweight snow camping in Oz


Eduardo Slabofvic

6-May-2009
3:29:15 PM

Not good. It wasn't me.

I find the magic number of 5 nights seems to be the tipping point between a big pack but not unbearable.
any more than 5 nights and everything’s a bit too heavy for my delicate frame.

My ethos is that I'm going out there to have a good time, that includes good company, good food, good
drink, staying warm and staying dry. If morale of the team is up, then a good time can be had. It only
takes 1 sad sac to turn the vibe pear shaped.

I guess I've been lucky so far, but I put the barrel well away from tracks and known camp sites and am
not about to say where.


Superstu

6-May-2009
4:25:21 PM

Not to worry, I did just about everything wrong. I put it in a place that others could discover, I chose a destination that was difficult to get skiing companions interested in (suprisingly the lure of a barrel full of wine, chocolate, pancake mix and canned fruit didn't seem enough), and I left it there for a few years.

If I did it again, I would place it in late Autumn and if I didn't manage to get there over winter, take it out next Spring regardless, and do it all again next year. Secondly I would put it somewhere impossible to discover, and I wouldn't tell anybody about it. I don't know what to do about unreliable skiing companions, maybe design the trip as a one way "through trip" so you can't turn back!?


Superstu

6-May-2009
4:30:48 PM

On 6/05/2009 Richard Delaney wrote:
>The silicon megamid (mega-light?) takes a lot of beating if you're camping
>in the trees -
>you don't need the pole (string between 2 trees).

I've heard a few comments about these tarps. I'd like to know how they perform in crap weather. Do you get a bit of spindriff coming in around the edges? Anybody used the double pole version? How complicated is the design? (I am considering sewing up my own.) Do you use a groundsheet?


Eduardo Slabofvic

6-May-2009
4:46:07 PM

Well if you ever need any help eating the pancakes, chocollate, fruit etc give me call. Are you cute and
cuddly as well? How are you with a golfball?

jono_1

6-May-2009
4:47:01 PM

Here are some weight saving ideas I have used over the years in the snow or mountains.

- Get rid of the thermarest. I use a ridgerest cause they are light and you can't puncture them.
- You could save 500g-1kg and buy a lighter tent, but expensive. Or build a snow cave, which takes a while.
- I use a lightweight non-gortex jacket and pants (300gms and 150gms respectively)
- only take what clothes you are going to wear and a lightweight down jacket or ditch the down jacket and go to bed early.
- get rid of every single piece of extra food packaging. If you use dehydrated food
packets buy the same one and put them all into a ziplock bag.
- take someone you are happy to snuggle with and zip your bags together


Sir Chossalot

6-May-2009
4:50:23 PM

>Change the mat for a single, thick insulated mat, like Big Agnes or Exped
>Down

I work in an outdoor shop in Syd (wont say which one) but we see quite a lot of the Downmats come back for repairs under warranty. There seems to be some problem with the lamination process they use causing slow leaks when stored after they have been inflated in a humid environment. Exped tend to brush it off as people mistreating the mats or blowing them up with their mouths, but I know of many instances where this wasn't the case (certainly it wasn't the case with mine when it failed).

They are warm to sleep on though, used mine in a snowcave in NZ and was toasty.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

6-May-2009
5:06:43 PM

superstu wrote;
>the stash had been raided

More work but perhaps burying the barrel could help?


Superstu

6-May-2009
5:06:55 PM

On 6/05/2009 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
> How are you with a golfball?

Yeah well I was the stunt double for the mail-order-bride in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Never tried with golf balls though. Liability issues.


wallwombat

6-May-2009
5:06:59 PM

On 6/05/2009 evanbb wrote:
>>I think mine was $60US or $700 Aust.

On 6/05/2009 ajfclark wrote:
>Holy crap! ;-)

Yeah, you got a pretty bad exchange rate there.


evanbb

6-May-2009
5:15:13 PM

On 6/05/2009 jono_1 wrote:

>- take someone you are happy to snuggle with and zip your bags together

I'm sure there's some actual facts out there about this, but in general, I don't think this is any warmer than using individual bags. In my experience, when you zip them together, more heat escapes through the gap between the 2 people than it does in a one bagger. Bullshiitting from a thermodynamics perspective, regardless of how you're sleeping, your body will produce the same amount of heat; the key is keeping it in. I don't think that you keep it in any better by adding another person to the bag. You don't get extra heat from the other person, cos they get some from you as well. However, I reckon I produce more heat than my wife, cos I'm bigger, so I feel colder, and she might feel warmer? So if someone is genuinely struggling you might be able to give them some of your heat, but if you're both cold this won't help.

Wendy

6-May-2009
5:30:29 PM

On 6/05/2009 superstu wrote:
>Not to worry, I did just about everything wrong. I put it in a place that
>others could discover, I chose a destination that was difficult to get
>skiing companions interested in (suprisingly the lure of a barrel full
>of wine, chocolate, pancake mix and canned fruit didn't seem enough), and
>I left it there for a few years.
>

I could be lured by said barrel ...

My answer was to suck it up and buy flash new gear ... actually as I did that a few years ago, I'd be even better off if I did it again. But I have a -20 bag that is only 1.3kg, if you only want it for snow use, a single skin tent is about the same. Light weight packs shred if you drag them through the undergrowth or across rocks but are easily half the weight of a normal one. Pocket rocket over the msr. Modern gortexes are lighter and there are lighter still materiels out there. Dehydrating your own food - cheaper and yummier than bought stuff with the same weight and fuel advantages.

I really could be lured by said barrel, esp if you dump it in the Vic end of the alps again.


nmonteith

6-May-2009
5:52:17 PM

On 6/05/2009 Sir Chossalot wrote:
>I work in an outdoor shop in Syd (wont say which one) but we see quite
>a lot of the Downmats come back for repairs under warranty. There seems
>to be some problem with the lamination process they use causing slow leaks
>when stored after they have been inflated in a humid environment. Exped
>tend to brush it off as people mistreating the mats or blowing them up
>with their mouths, but I know of many instances where this wasn't the case
>(certainly it wasn't the case with mine when it failed).

My Exped deflates slowly during the night... never mistreated. Should i send it in for a warranty claim?

adrian

6-May-2009
5:56:50 PM

Wendy, what bag do you have that's only 1.3kg? I need to buy a -20 bag sometime before I head to Argentina, and I'm keen to hear people's opinions on what has worked for them.

psd

6-May-2009
6:01:30 PM

On 6/05/2009 nmonteith wrote:
>My Exped deflates slowly during the night... never mistreated. Should
>i send it in for a warranty claim?

So does mine !!! (but I ordered it from the US ...)


meinmuk

6-May-2009
6:05:27 PM

On 6/05/2009 evanbb wrote:

>
>I'm sure there's some actual facts out there about this, but in general,
>I don't think this is any warmer than using individual bags.

Surely you're just not doing this right! I have often found physical exertion, being in the
wilderness and going to be early very stimulating...


Sabu

6-May-2009
6:22:35 PM

On 6/05/2009 adrian wrote:
>Wendy, what bag do you have that's only 1.3kg? I need to buy a -20 bag
>sometime before I head to Argentina, and I'm keen to hear people's opinions
>on what has worked for them.

I have a 1.6kg -25 degree (extreme) bag which i love, very comfy especially when used
with a thermalight liner. Its a Vango Viper 750. Haven't used it in exceptional cold temps
yet (Aus alps only).
Regarding lightweight stuff unfortunately these days you pay more for less! you can get
some really good goretex jackets that weigh next to nothing. Also get your hands on
some compression thermals, keep you nice and warm but they're not uncomfortable
when things get sweaty.


wallwombat

6-May-2009
6:39:51 PM

What are compression thermals?

another dave

6-May-2009
7:17:26 PM

A megamid would let in spin drift if it was not properly protected. If you built a big enough snow wall around it every time you camped (so its great if you don't move camp often and the snow isn't rock hard) and you think it may storm it should keep spindrift out. You could also pile snow on the up wind side of the tent edge. Though I have had spindrift float up under a tent fly and though the mesh at the top of the tent, that wasn't a megamid though.

Have you considered a bivy bag. I have not used one though I understand thay are good for over night trips. Or you could get a lighter sleeping bag (synthetic would be better for this) use a bivy bag as extra warmth. You could then used a bivy bag with a mega mid to stay dry from spindrift. Problem with bivy bags is they don't breath well enough to keep your bag dry so pulling your head into the sleeping bag could result in getting a wet bag.
This is an option though probably to hardcore for leisure camping.

If your going to get a new tent don't get a single skin and if your going 4 season try to get one with out mesh.

These site may help.
http://www.ozbc.net/
http://www.mountainz.co.nz/content/article/article.php?article=120405_bivouac.php&direct=nz


Sabu

6-May-2009
8:07:52 PM

On 6/05/2009 wallwombat wrote:
>What are compression thermals?
Another name for them is Skins. Can find them in any sport store. Basically they're
really tight so keep you warm but wick away sweat to cool during exercise. What i like
is that they form a super tight layer against your skin which is better than what you get
for normal thermals.

climberman

6-May-2009
9:33:27 PM

http://forums.ski.com.au/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=569441&page=0&fpart=1

may also be of interest. tele-whippet has a beta-mid, which he has adapted with snow baffles, there is apic in the thread.. he did make commercial gear for a few years though.

There are 84 messages in this topic.